Patrick Lefevere: "Those fake accounts on Twitter and Facebook drive me crazy"

Social media is used for many means, one of them being to trick others. This week a fake Patrick Lefevere account has launched a rumour that tricked news outlets into believing that Remco Evenepoel was going to take part in Amstel Gold Race, and the manager of Soudal - Quick-Step is very unhappy with the ongoing ituation.

"We Belgians look with a magnifying glass from here to Tokyo at the results of these races, but nevertheless we are fourth in the WorldTour position. Just to say. And yes, we had our share of bad luck again: there are too many names on it, starting with Julian Alaphilippe," Lefevere told Het Nieuwsblad. The team's spring in the one-day races was far from successful and the impacts were present in the team. Lack of form, luck and initiative in different races led to results that haven't stood out, with Yves Lampaert's third place being perhaps the highlight of the spring classics.

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In the stage-races Remco Evenepoel has ´had his fair share of success, but the team is below what it has been in previous years. Julian Alaphilippe, who expected to have a leading role at the Tour of Flanders but ended up crashing and not being in contention. Philip Jansen, team doctor, confirmed the issues that emerged with the former World Champion: "In the end, Julian rode another 140 kilometers in the Tour of Flanders with a swollen joint. In hindsight it might have been better if he had left the Tour immediately, but Flanders was his big goal."

"He was kept off the bike for five days. With everything Julian has encountered in the last season and a half, it is better that he skips the Amstel and the Flèche Wallone and prepares for Liège-Bastogne-Liège. A painful decision, but it's better this way," he admitted. The Frenchman has said himself that Liège will be the only remaining spring classic he'll race, but likely in a supportive role for Evenepoel.

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Evenepoel will return to competition in the fourth monument of the season, one which he has won last year. As he trains at altitude for the Giro d'Italia he misses the remaining Ardennes, but rumours emerged - and were quickly dismissed - that he would race Amstel Gold Race. The effects were quickly felt for Lefevere who shows anger towards it. "We stick to the plan. It already started on the eve of the Tour of Flanders. Now, with the Amstel Gold Race on social media, it was the same again. When it appeared on a Spanish cycling site on Tuesday that Remco would be at the start in Maastricht, my iPhone immediately went red hot."

"Journalists called me in blind panic. Those fake accounts on Twitter and Facebook drive me crazy. I myself had Remco on the Teide once on the phone. He told me he was good. I replied: Keep it like this!" Lefevere concluded.

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